Dilla university

Collage of engineering and technology

Department of food engineering

FEng 3142
Academic year 2021
By Dereje A.
CHAPTER 1. Introduction to meat, poultry and
fish processing technology
Contents
Basic definitions of
 Meat
 Poultry and
 Fish processing technology
Features of Meat consumption

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 Introduction

 Meat is defined as the flesh of animals used as food.

 It is the edible part of an animal or bird slaughtered for
human consumption.
 Meat is highly desirable, nutritious and rich in protein,
highly perishable.
 MEAT can be sourced from:
 Beef or Veal,
 Mutton or lamb,
 Pork & Poultry
 Meat process defined as the condition in which meat is
changed to different meat product.

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MEAT PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
Meat processing involves a wide range of physical
and chemical treatment methods, normally
combining a variety of methods.
Meat processing technologies include:
 Cutting/chopping/comminuting (size reduction)
 Mixing/tumbling
 Salting/curing
 Utilization of spices/non-meat additives
 Stuffing/filling into casings or other containers
 Fermentation and drying
 Heat treatment
 Smoking

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 PURPOSE OF MEAT PROCESSING

 Extending shelf life the product

 Providing (supplementing) nutrients required for health,
Products of specific requirements can also be prepared e.g., for
children, old age or obese people.
 Providing variety and convenience in diet
 Adding value.

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 Cont…

 Meat products include many of the by-products from animal

slaughter such as animal gut used for sausage casings etc…
 Organ meats: liver, kidney, heart, thymus, pancreas, brain…
 Sausages - made of ground or minced meat and are enclosed in
casings.
 The increasing pressure of world population, and the need to
raise living standards, has made the production of more and
better meat, and its more effective preservation, an important
issue

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 Animal Holding and Care

 Physically fit animals that are to be slaughtered within 24

hours must be conveyed direct to the lairage for rest.
Those waiting their turn are to be held in a kraal or pen.
 During the resting period any excitement must be avoided
 Ante-mortem inspection should be made during this
period or about twelve hours before the animals are
delivered to the killing floor.
 Rest is important because when animals are overworked
or fatigued carcasses of lower quality result from
slaughter.

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 Cont…
 Feed must be kept away from the animals at least during the
last eight hours before slaughter. However, fresh clean water
may be provided throughout the resting time.
 The meat is similarly affected if the animals get a heavy “fill”
from feeding prior to slaughter.
 It should be noted further that when a great deal of food is
present in the gut, it makes evisceration difficult. Conversely
an empty gut reduces viscera size and makes its removal
easier: it also lessens the possibility of spilling the contents of
the gut on to the carcass, thus facilitating its cleaning, while
eliminating contamination.
 With this, spoilage bacteria act less on the carcass, thus
reducing the incidence of off-taste and souring.

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 Some Requirements for slaughterhouses
1. Slaughterhouses must have adequate and hygienic
lairage facilities or, climate permitting, waiting
pens that are easy to clean and disinfect. The
drainage of the waste water must not compromise
food safety.
2. To avoid contaminating meat, there must:
(a) Have a sufficient number of rooms, appropriate to the
operations
(b) Be ensuring of separation in space or time of some
operations. Example:
 Stunning and bleeding
 Evisceration and further dressing
 Dispatching meat
(c) Have installations that prevent
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contact between the meat 9
 Cont…
3) They must have facilities for disinfecting tools with hot
water supplied or an alternative system having an
equivalent effect.
4) The equipment for washing hands used by the staff
engaged in handling exposed meat must have taps
designed to prevent the spread of contamination.
5) There must be lockable facilities for the refrigerated
storage of detained meat
6) If manure or digestive tract content is stored in the
slaughterhouse, there must be a special area or place for
that purpose.

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 Types of Slaughter Premises
 Slaughter premises normally seen in developing
countries are of three kinds:
Modern abattoirs
Old slaughter houses and slaughter slabs and
Makeshift premises.
 The old slaughterhouses and slaughter slabs handle the
bulk of public slaughters. These premises merely make
facilities available for use by licensed butchers and
traders for the slaughter of livestock at stipulated fees,
and in accordance with public health, inspection and
marketing regulations.

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 Cont…
 The makeshift, for want of a better term, include all kinds
of places such as converted buildings or rooms, shade of
trees as well as open bare grounds that a butcher or a
community may find convenient for the operation.
 Mostly private-owned and under no formal authority or
licensing, these premises and their products are neither
inspected, quantified nor subjected to trade and health
regulations.

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 Forms of Slaughter

 Slaughter methods prevailing throughout the world are

governed either by tradition, ritual or legislation
depending upon the people and the country.
1. The Humane Method and Conventional Techniques of
Slaughter
2. Traditional and Ritualistic Slaughter
a. African Traditional Slaughter
b. Islamic Slaughter (Halal)
c. Jewish Slaughter (Kosher)
d. Sikh Slaughter (Jhatka)

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 cont…
 Ritualistic or religious slaughter often requires the animal to be
in a state of consciousness at the time it is bled.
 Where a complete state of unconsciousness is rendered prior to
bleeding the process is known as humane slaughtering.

 The state of unconsciousness and accompanying painlessness is

effected either by mechanical, electrical or chemical means in a
process called stunning.

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 Slaughter Hygiene
 Basic criteria that measures Slaughter Hygiene in
slaughterhouse organization and operations rest.
a. Eliminate the risk of bacterial infection and food poisoning
b. Prevent spoilage or putrefaction and thereby enhance the
keeping, quality and safety of meat;
c. Secure meat of good eating quality, appearance and
aesthetic or attraction value through proper handling.

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General hygiene rules for facilities, equipment
and personnel in the meat industries
 SLAUGHTER AND PROCESSING AREA FACILITIES
1. Floors: Brick, tile, smooth concrete or other impervious,
waterproof materials are suitable for floors
2. Drains: To carry away waste liquids, there should be
sufficient drains of the proper size , correctly located, and
vented
 All floors should be sloped toward the drains
3. Walls: Materials for wall construction should be sanitation &
moisture resistance.
4. Doors and doorways : All doorways through which the
product must pass, should be wide enough.

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 Cont…

5. Water supply: The water supply must be potable and

abundant and must be distributed to all parts of the
operation.
6. Lighting: Adequate light where products are critically
examined during sanitary control or for cleanliness
7. Refrigeration- because in warmer temperatures :
→ Bacteria multiply rapidly
→ The risk of product contamination increases
8. Equipment: All equipment should be constructed of stainless
steel, galvanized steel, aluminum or approved plastic

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 PERSONNEL HYGIENE

 Personnel with: Clean hands, Clean clothing, Good hygienic

practices
 Clothing should be covered with coats or gowns while
handling meat
 All persons should have their hair under control

 No person working with meats should wear any kind of

jewelry, badges or buttons
 All unsanitary practices should be avoided by meat handlers
such as, Smoking, Scratching the head, placing fingers in or
around the nose or mouth
 Avoid Sneezing or coughing on the product

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 Storage and transport
1. (a) Unless other specific provisions provide otherwise,
post-mortem inspection must be followed immediately
by chilling in the slaughterhouse to ensure a
temperature throughout the meat of not more than 3 °C
for offal and 7 °C for other meat along a chilling curve
that ensures a continuous decrease of the temperature.
(b) During the chilling operations, there must be
adequate ventilation to prevent condensation on the
surface of the meat.
2. Meat must attain the temperature specified before transport,
and remain at that temperature during transport.

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Simple flow diagram of operations in
slaughter houses

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Cont.
 Stunning is the process of rendering
animals immobile or unconscious, with or
without killing ... In modern
slaughterhouses a variety of stunning
methods are used on livestock. Methods
include: Electrical stunning; Gas stunning;
Percussive

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Some groups of Meat products
 Fresh processed meat products
 Cured meat pieces
 Precooked– cooked products
 Raw (dry) – fermented sausages
 Dried meat
 Meat products can be different types based on
their processing, purpose, packaging material,
preservation mechanism etc…

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 Composition of meat

Water
Proteins
Fat/lipids
Carbohydrates
Pigments (myoglobin and hemoglobin)
Enzymes
Minerals
Extractives
vitamins

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 Meat substitutes
 Use in place of meat ,with the same functions.
Examples:
Legumes e.g beans, soybeans
Fruit-based e.g Jackfruit, a fruit whose flesh has a
similar texture to pulled pork when cooked
Dairy-based products
Wheat gluten etc…

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Poultry processing
 The term “poultry” refers to domestic fowl reared for
their flesh, eggs or feathers and includes chickens, ducks,
geese, turkeys and pigeons.
 Poultry meat is a good source of protein and has a lipid
content and low calorific value. It is palatable, tender
and easily digestible.

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 Discussion and Quiz

 Discus Purpose of meat processing?

 What are three basic criteria upon which
hygienic measures in slaughterhouse
organization and operations rest?

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